Friday, October 3, 2014

Walnut Hollow & Quietfire Blog Hop - Last Day!


Welcome to the final day of the Walnut Hollow & Quietfire 2014 Blog Hop!  We’re pleased you’re joining us and hope you've found lots of creative inspiration for combining Quietfire stamps on the beautiful Walnut Hollow wood products. 
 

 I love autumn. I'm not a lover of hot weather.  Thanksgiving used to be such an event in our family.  While the turkey was cooking, my mother took me out for walks and we'd collect leaves which inevitably ended up on the table and then later pressed in books. Visits to my grandparents when I was young found me reading a book or building a model airplane - or climbing the maple tree in their back yard. 

As soon as this blog hop was conceived, I had an idea. When you have something in your mind for so long (Chris and Sara from Walnut Hollow and I discussed the hop at the CHA conference in January!), I'm not sure the reality can ever live up to the expectation.  But, no matter what, it was fun getting to the final product.


I'm the daughter of a woodworker/furniture refinisher (amongst other things), so when my Walnut Hollow treasures arrived, I was in sniffing heaven!  Who doesn't love the smell of wood? I chose the Walnut Hollow Rustic Wood Ledge for this project and rather than use it as a ledge, I (as I think most of us would) flipped it over to use as a container! 



Along the side of the ledge, I chose to create the year-long story of a maple tree as it goes from bare branches in the winter, to maple syrup time and fresh buds, to lush summer coolness and on to the glorious colours of autumn.
Last week I introduced a new cutting file to help make this project easier:

maple tree - four seasons

Because of my passion for wood in its bare state, I didn't paint or stain the beautiful pine surface. (lol, no, it's not maple, but that's okay!)





Here is the supply list:
Walnut Hollow: Rustic Wood Ledge
Quietfire Design: Being Thankful, Give Thanks

Silhouette Online Store: maple tree - four seasons and leaf spray card
Silhouette: Cameo
Silhouette: Vellum (for snowflakes)
Tsukineko: VersaMagic Dew Drops Jumbo Java, Spanish Olive, Pumpkin Spice
Zva Creative: Long Flourish Pearls
Cardstock: American Crafts Smooth and Recollections
Bo Bunny: Autumn Song
Kaisercraft: Treasures Metal Corners Brass
copper book corners
candles, rocks
Adhesives:
Glue Dots: micro and mini 
Pop Dots
Zip Dry
Tombow Dot Pattern Stamp Runner


Instructions:
  1. Cut 8 trees from brown cardstock.  If your cardstock is fairly thin, cut 16 trees and double up each tree with adhesive so you have eight sturdier trees in total. Cut leaves in many colours, snowflakes from vellum, and swings, birdies and buckets from red cardstock.  (You could use Elizabeth Craft's All Season Tree die set if you don't own an electronic cutting machine.)
  2. While they lay flat, assemble the trees with leaves, snowflakes and other elements as shown in the photographs. Decorate both sides of the trees as back of the tree tops will show across the table!
  3. Stamp the sentiments on off-white cardstock and trim. Blend Jumbo Java around the edges of the cards to antique them.  Place book corners on each corner of each card and crimp in place.
  4. Attach the brass corners to edges of ledge.
  5. Apply the pearl flourish to the side of the ledge so winter blows into spring. Attach trees and sentiment panels to ledge with Pop Dots as shown.

6. On the Silhouette Cameo, ungroup the leaf spray card elements and cut only the leaves from a sheet of patterned paper.  Use Glue Dots to attach leaves to the ends of the ledge - because we just can't leave it naked!




7. Add some scented candles and rocks to the inside - or fill it with pressed leaves and you'll be all set for the sharing part of Thanksgiving!


Speaking of thanks....
Many thanks to Chris Wallace and Sara Shirman at Walnut Hollow and Judi Kauffman for playing with us, and to Walnut Hollow for providing the Quietfire Design team with such wonderful products.  You will see more projects over the next few months featuring other Walnut Hollow items.

And thanks, as always, to my amazing Design Team!  You inspire me to be better - and different - every day!

And now............


To be eligible for our grand prize, your work is simple:  Please leave a comment on each of our blog posts, nine here on the Quietfire Creations blog and five on the Walnut Hollow blog hop posts here: http://walnuthollowcrafts.wordpress.com/   So that will be 14 comments in total on two different blogs from September 29, 2014 to October 3, 2014!  The winner must be a resident of North America.  

You can go back and comment at any time on any of the blog posts to be eligible, but you should finish by midnight Sunday October 5th PST.

We will draw the prize on Monday October 6th, 2014 and the winner will be announced shortly after in a separate blog post. We look forward to seeing your comments!  Tell your friends!

Good Luck!
and Happy Thanksgiving to all the Canadians!

List of Blog Hop Posts with links:
Wanda
Teresa
Chris
Sherry
Kathy Jo
Sara
Holly
Yogi
Chris
Judi
Yvonne
Robyn
Suzanne (that's here!)
Chris


48 comments:

Viki Banaszak said...

I love this so much. The 4 season trees means it can always be out and useful.

Heather said...

Wow, that is just gorgeous, What a beautiful idea!! Great week hopping!

Kathy Eddy said...

Wow, what a gorgeous centerpiece. Lots of tiny leaves too. You sure spent some time making this treasure!

Art By Wanda said...

Absolutely gorgeous, Suzanne!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sue D said...

What a fabulous idea! Love all the seasons of trees on your project.

jcobb said...

Beautiful! Hope your Thanksgiving is as beautiful as the projects that have been displayed throughout the week!

Robyn said...

Loving this, Suzanne and the leaf spray is the crowning touché!

Yogi said...

what a wonderful center piece. well done. Yes and I love the smell of wood... Have a great day

Dawn S. said...

Gorgeous! Love the transformation of the tree during the four seasons.

Fran O. said...

Love thinking outside of the box (no pun intended). :-) Great alternate use for this piece.

Felicia said...

Suzanne, this is a beautiful centerpiece! Would love to have it on my table this fall! Thanks for sharing!

Saundra A. said...

This is really nice and such a great idea. I love it!

Janis said...

This is absolutely fabulous!!!! LOVE the idea of the 4 seasons trees and the theme of Thankfulness. Your tree design is so wonderful with that little swing as an added touch.....so nostalgic!! Love your Quietfire Thankful sentiments set off by the brackets in between the trees. The centerpiece is perfect with the unfinished wood and the rocks alongside the candles....a piece of nature right in the nice warm house! Also love your scattering of loose leaves on the ends. Is there anything I missed?.....because I love it, too!!! lol.... Thanks for the lovely hop this week and for sharing this beautiful and inspiring piece today!!!
<3 J

jwoolbright at gmail dot com
HerPeacefulGarden.blogspot.com

Cathy - CMP Designs said...

Awesome idea for candles! The trees are spectacular, so pretty!

Roseanna C said...

I love your centerpiece, so creative the way the trees progress through the year. Thanks for the inspiration.

barbara macaskill said...

I thought I had already picked my favorite project on this hop but then I clicked on this post! I absolutely love the way you did the trees and used the ledge as a container!! I have a fondness for containers so I probably would use it to house small embellishments but LOVE the idea of a centerpiece as gorgeous as this!!! TFS!

Yvonne said...

Absolutely stunning project Suzanne! Wow...

Anonymous said...

This is a great idea. You could make several for the different seasons of the year.
My husband was the wood worker and I really miss being able to tell him what I want and he'd disappear to his shop.
In a little while he'd be back with a beautiful finished product for me to embellish. I really miss that ability. I'm afraid of the tools so I can't carry on the tradition. I've loved all of the items I've seen this week and will be shopping for them. Great ideas for embellishment. Thanks for having this hop. It's been fun and inspirational.

cghundley said...

This is something special!
Love the way you followed
the tree's life cycle. Looks
lovely.
Carla from Utah

Linda T said...

What an adorable Fall centerpiece for the table. I just love Fall trees. What a beautiful job you did on decorating this. What a great week full of such great ideas. Thank you so much.

Beach Girl 115 said...

Your centerpiece is so gorgeous! And I love the maple tree through the 4 seasons-how clever. Thanks for sharing this creative project.

JPScraps said...

Wow! This is gorgeous!

Unknown said...

Wow! This is a fantastic candle holder that could grace any table all year long!

trisha too said...

Beautiful centerpiece, and so versatile--what a great concept!

:)

Jackie said...

What a beautiful project... I love the trees depicting the seasons. Brilliant!

UTs Hobby Time said...

It's definitely a masterpiece. Love all the trees.

terriavidreader (IN-USA) said...

Lovely project! And sets such a nice table.

Pat said...

What a great project! I love what you've done with the trees to make a centerpiece which can be used over and over again.

Shirley said...

Yes, it would make a excellent centre piece.

Nancy said...

I can't get over how you used this tray, the quiet fire stamps, dies, candles and such to make such a show piece! I just love this so much! Thank you for sharing!

Unknown said...

What a lovely candle holder, love those cute trees!

Anonymous said...

Suzanne, your wooden container is so gorgeous with those seasonal trees!

Ms Linda *swtanxiety94@yahoo.com said...

Very creative. Like how fall was incorporated in the design of trees.

Christina said...

Love love love this! Beautiful!

happy said...

Stunning! I love your creativity!

LeeBeth said...

This is a well though out delightful piece.

Anonymous said...

So pretty :) I love the pearl 'wind' blowing the leaves across the branches. It will make a very nice centerpiece for your Thanksgiving table :)

Mickey Drake ( drakemickey@yahoo.ca )

Sheila said...

A unique centerpiece!

Froggietalks said...

Love the creative use of a ledge Suzanne😊 this is perfect for Thanksgiving.

Ann said...

So colorful, great project Suzanne!
Mstgane
Ann

Anonymous said...

Love the bare wood & the great little trees! Follower from Tamworth

Evelyn said...

Suzanne, I really like your trees. You are so creative! :-)

Dorina D said...

Love how you changed the use of the ledge box into such a fun and interesting piece. Nice work and a great tutorial.

Teri's Alter Ego said...

Suzanne, this is gorgeous! I love the river rock separating the votives. Great for the table as you've shown it but it would also be beautiful on an entry table by the door to great guests!

Colleen said...

Okay this is just to cute!! The same box from earlier used as a center piece, love it!!!!!!

Unknown said...

Wow this is really Beautiful! Great inspiration!

nancy carroll said...

Wow, awesome centerpiece, all the seasons, great inspiration.

McStamper said...

I love your project - beautiful colors and such a great centerpiece.

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